Sicilian Opening by Salvatore Bonafede

Hailing originally from Sicily, pianist Salvatore Bonafede earned a scholarship to Boston’s Berklee School of Music in 1986. A 1989 move to New York saw him playing with the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, Dewey Redman, Joshua Redman, Lew Tabackin and Joe Lovano. Bonafede moved back to Sicily in 1994, where he has worked with many jazz luminaries, including Joe Lovano’s 12-Piece Orchestra. The résumé reveals a musician conversant in a variety of ensemble configurations, but Bonafede pares things down to a trio for Sicilian Opening.

More about Salvatore Bonafede
Salvatore Bonafede was born on August 4, 1962 in Palermo, Italy and began playing the piano at the age of four; at first he was self-taught, but later he received classical lessons and in 1973 entered the Conservatory of Music in Palermo. As a teenager he started gigging with local groups and big-bands, accompanied several visiting American Stars, worked in the orchestra for a number of theatrical performances as well as appearing on national Radio and Television programs. Bonafede’s early influences were McCoy Tyner and Chick Corea, and he also become steeped in the work of Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, and Charles Mingus.

Source: AllAboutJazz.com

Siracusa is home to the Greek tragedy from May 8 through June 20, 2010

May 8, 2010 4:00 pm

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June 20, 2010 4:00 pm

The Greek Theater in Syracuse (Sicily), UNESCO World Heritage Site, will stage the classic productions of Aiace by Sophocles and Phaedra by Euripides from May 8 through June 20, 2010.

Thanks to the Instituto Italiano per il Dramma Antico (INDA), this spectacular setting has been turning into a real ancient action every other year for 46 years now. It is like experiencing theater as ancient Greeks did more than 2000 year ago!It is a magic and emotional experience.

If you are in Sicily during that time of the year, I strongly suggest a stop in Syracuse. Even if the performances are going to be in Italian, it does not really matter: the sheer enjoyment of taking being part of such an old tradition will make the visit worthwhile. Tickets start at € 26 (currency converter).

General information:

Archeological Site of Siracusa (Unesco World Heritage Site)
Address: Via Rizzo/Via Paradiso, Siracusa
Phone: (0931) 662 06

To buy tickets:
INDA di Palazzo Greco
Corso Matteotti 29, Siracusa
Phone: (+39) 0931 – 48 72 48
Fax: (+39) 0931 – 48 72 49
www.indafondazione.org
Online tickets

Carmen Consoli is super-guest at the Sanremo Music Festival

The Sicilian-born Carmen Consoli is one of the most successful female singer-songwriters Italy has ever produced. The 35 year-old musician is known for her unflinching emotional live performances of songs that examine broad themes of love, illness, solitude and friendship from a feminine — and feminist — perspective. Her career took off at the 2000 Sanremo Music Festival, a popular Italian song contest running since 1951 and held annually from Teatro Ariston in the city of Sanremo (Wikipedia). NOw she is a super-guest at the Festival.

Watch the video of “Mandaci una cartolina”, plus interview (in Italian) at http://www.rai.tv

Getty Museum to embark on partnership with Sicily

The J. Paul Getty Museum said Wednesday that it is expanding its partnerships with various regions of Italy by embarking on a long-term cultural collaboration with Sicily.

The joint project will involve object conservation, earthquake protection of collections, exhibitions and more. The Getty said it will be working with the Sicilian Ministry of Culture and Sicilian Identity.

Currently, the Getty has partnerships with the Museo Archeologico Nazionale in Florence and the Museo Archeologico Nazionale in Naples.

The collaborations are the result of a 2007 agreement between the Getty and the Italian Ministry of Culture. As part of that accord, the Getty agreed to transfer 40 objects to Italy in order to help bring to a close the protracted legal battle over disputed works of art.

Italy and the Getty also agreed at the time to a “broad cultural collaboration” that would include loans of significant art works, joint exhibitions and other endeavors.

Among the projects slated for the Sicily project is a new exhibition to be undertaken by the Getty that will explore Sicily during the Classical and Hellenistic periods — or roughly between the 5th and 3rd centuries BC.

The Getty said the exhibition, which is provisionally titled “Between Greece and Rome: Sicily in the Classical and Hellenistic Period,” will open at the Getty Villa in Malibu in 2013 and will borrow from a number of Sicilian museums and other international institutions.

Another planned exhibition will involve the exploration of Selinunte (Selinos), a Greek colonial settlement in southwestern Sicily that has a number of ancient Greek temples. The Getty will partner with various organizations on the show, whose opening day has yet to be announced.

Source: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com

Guttuso’s La Vucciria will be shown in Messina

February 13, 2010 6:00 pm

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March 15, 2010 6:00 pm

For the second edition of  the “Notte della Cultura” in Messina on February 13, tourists and locals  will have the opportunity to view “La Vucciria” (the famous open-air market of Palermo, photo on the left), the 1974 painting of Renato Guttuso, currently kept at the Palazzo Chiaramonte, the headquarters of the University of Palermo. The paiting will be exhibited at the Teatro Vittorio Emanuele together with another artwork by the Palermitan painter: “The legend of Colapesce” decorating the ceiling of the theater since 1985. La Vucciria will remain in Messina for about a month.

Almond Blossom Festival in Agrigento, Sicily

February 14, 2010 9:00 am

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February 21, 2010 10:00 pm

Agrigento will host the 65th edition of its Almond Blossom Festival this coming February 14-21, 2010. The event showcases folklorist groups and musical bands from diverse parts of the world: Armenia, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Cipro, Georgia, Guatemala, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Portugal, Romania, Senegal, Serbia, Spain, Turkey and Ukraine (see last year video of a Korean group below). Tourists can admire the almond blossoms in the beautiful setting of the Valley of the Temples.

The Almond Blossom Festival originated from an idea of Count Alfonso Gaetani in 1934. The purpose was to celebrate the mild climate in Agrigento and promote typical Sicilian products.

The Sicilian Film Festival in Miami on April 16 @ 6PM

April 16, 2010
6:00 pm	to	10:00 pm

The success of the inaugural Sicilian Film Festival in 2006 was very encouraging. So was the second edition of 2007. The Sicilian Film Festival is now renowned throughout the United States and the world. This festival is a creation of Emanuele Viscuso. The concept began when The Ragusani Nel Mondo association requested the showing here in Florida of some films made by Sicilian directors. Sicilians, Italians, Americans and people from every ethnic background equally enjoyed the festival and felt that they were part of a larger family. The Sicilian Film Festival has quickly become a showcase for the fruits of Sicilian cultural creativity. It offers its supporters a unique and personal opportunity to take part in the creation of this international festival.

The Sicilian Film Festival
@ Miami Beach Cinematheque
512 Espanola Way, Miami Beach
April 16, 2010 at 6pm
Web site: www.sicilianfilmfestival.com

Cocktail reception by Intervolumina in Messina during the “Notte della Cultura”

February 13, 2010
7:30 pm	to	10:30 pm

The cultural association Intervolumina in Messina is hosting a cocktail reception during the “Notte della Cultura” on February 13.

The event will have as theme the medieval life under Federico II with music, customs and dishes of that time. Tickets cost 7 Euros.

If you are visiting Messina, stop by and say hi to our friends at Intervolumina. They are doing a great job in rediscovering traditions and documents that otherwise will be lost.

The event goes from 7:30 through 10:30 and takes place at the Biblioteca Provinciale dei Frati Minori Cappuccini.

For more information and reservations, write to info@intervolumina.it or call (327) 4699359.

Address:‎
Viale Regina Margherita, 25
98122 Messina

Web site: www.intervolumina.it
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#/event.php?eid=315842891328

Teatro de los sentidos/Abitare Palermo

February 12, 2010 7:00 pm

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February 28, 2010 3:00 am

Teatro de los sentidos/Abitare Palermo directed by Enrique Vargas will be performing at the theater Nuovo Montervergini in Palermo from February 12 through 27, 2010.

Teatro de los Sentidos Teatro de los Sentidos is a theater company directed by Enrique Vargas, formed by performers/researchers of diverse nationalities and fields of expertise who work on the poetics of the senses and research into the relationship between sensory language, body memory and theater.

The company aims towards a language based on that what is left unsaid. Following the path of ancestral oral traditions, where silence is a necessary condition for an effective communication between the play and the public.

Shows from Tuesday through Sunday at 7:00PM, 8:30PM, 10:00PM

Nuovo Montevergini
Via Montevergini, 8
90134 Palermo (Sicilia), Italy
Phone: (091) 612 43 14
Web site: www.nuovomontevergini.com

The Sicilian Jazz Project

Jazz has been popular in Italy since the 1920s, and the list of Italian American jazz musicians is lengthy, stretching from New Orleans trumpeter Nick La Rocca in the 1900s to saxophonist Joe Lovano, a leading figure in contemporary jazz. But Italian-descended jazz musicians rarely have used Italian musical forms as the basis for improvisation or original compositions. Lovano, on his acclaimed Viva Caruso album, is an exception. Another is the Sicilian-Canadian guitarist and composer Michael Occhipinti.

More at http://www.i-italy.org

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